Even if images of astrophysical objects are used by professional astronomers for research and by the public for outreach, we are all basically blind to the Universe. Challenging the idea that we should always use visualisations, there has been a growing interest in converting astronomical phenomena into sound, motivated by: making astronomy more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired (BVI); creating more engaging educational resources, and enabling a deeper understanding of complex astronomical data. The Audible Universe (AU) workshop focuses on consolidating what has been done in the field so far and identifying the areas where most effort is required to make progress over the coming years. The second edition of the AU workshop (AU2) took place in 2022, and brought together 50 experts, among whom astronomers interested in sonification, sound designers, experts in sound perception and educators. This community started a multi-disciplinary discussion about how to properly design and evaluate sonification tools. In this methodological and position paper, we present and discuss the main activities of the AU2 workshop, with a particular focus on activities concerned with the development of collaborative design processes, and the implementation of methods for evaluation. While this workshop was dedicated to fostering exchanges between the sonification community and astronomers, the structure and the methods used within the workshop are transferable to other application areas, and a contribution to the effort to develop interdisciplinary strategies for the development of the field of sonification.

A multi-disciplinary team recently came together online to discuss the application of sonification in astronomy, focusing on the effective use of sound for scientific discovery and for improving accessibility to astronomy research and education.

Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS), funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to engage middle school youth from diverse audiences in investigating the universe with research quality robotic telescopes. SJS project development goals include: 1) Online access to optical and radio telescopes, data analysis tools, and professional astronomers, 2) An age-appropriate web-based interface for controlling remote telescopes, 3) Inquiry-based standards-aligned instructional modules. From an accessibility perspective, the goal of the Skynet Junior Scholars project is to facilitate independent access to the project by all youth including those with blindness or low vision and those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students have long been an underserved population within STEM fields, including astronomy. Two main barriers include: (1) insufficient corpus of American Sign Language (ASL) for astronomy terminology, and (2) DHH education professionals who lack astronomy background. A suite of vocabulary, accessible hands-on activities, and interaction with trained professionals, are critical for enhancing the background experiences of DHH youth, as they may come to an astronomy lesson lacking the basic incidental learning that is often taken for granted with hearing peers (for example, from astronomy in the media).A collaboration between the Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS) project and the Wisconsin School for the Deaf is bringing astronomy to the DHH community in an accessible way for the first time. We follow a group of seven DHH youth over one semester as they interact with the SJS tools and curriculum to understand how they assimilate astronomy experiences and benefit from access to telescopes both directly (on school campus and at Yerkes Observatory) and through Skynet's robotic telescope network (optical and radio telescopes, inquiry-based modules, data analysis tools, and professional astronomers). We report on our first findings of resources and best practices for engaging DHH youth in astronomy in the future.

Skynet Junior Scholars is an ambitious program that aims to:--Develop online tools that enable middle school and high school aged youth to use robotic optical and radio telescopes to do astronomy--Create an inquiry-based curriculum that promotes critical thinking and scientific habits of mind--Proactively incorporate Principles of Universal Design in all SJS development tasks to ensure access by blind/low vision and deaf/hard of hearing youth--Prepare 180 adult youth leaders from diverse backgrounds including 4-H leaders, museum educators, amateur astronomers and teachers to facilitate SJS activities in a variety of settings.In this paper we describe the work of staff and volunteers at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired who have implemented SJS activities in school and camp environments, as well as ways in which they have empowered their students to take on leadership roles. Students from the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired planned and co-hosted a Magic of Astronomy (Harry Potter Themed) star party that incorporated topics learned as part of the SJS program; filters, exposure time, locating objects in the sky, as well as, how to make an image request from the Skynet network. Their experiences in successfully doing active astronomy will provide insight into how anyone can engage everyone in programs like Skynet Junior Scholars.Skynet Junior Scholars is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers 1223687, 1223235 and 1223345.